China promises economic stimulus plan will protect environment

China's environment ministry said today it would strictly monitor the government's economic stimulus package for projects that cause pollution, addressing worries that officials would ignore the environment in an effort to maintain China's high economic growth rates.

The stimulus will not damage the environment, the vice-minister of the ministry of environmental protection, Zhang Lijun, told a news conference. China's 4tn yuan (£365bn) stimulus package was unveiled last November to boost domestic demand during the global financial crisis.

Zhang said only projects concerning infrastructure and improving public welfare will get approval for fast-track environmental assessments – meaning everything else will be subject to a more rigorous assessment. The environmental ministry has approved 365 projects related to the stimulus since last year and rejected or postponed 29 high-energy ones, such as petrochemical plants, steel factories and coal-powered power plants, he said.

A total of 210bn yuan of the stimulus money is earmarked for environmental protection projects and improving energy efficiency.

Zhang said less than one-tenth of the 230bn yuan the central government spent of the stimulus in the fourth quarter of last year and the beginning of this year went to that.

But he warned that some regions in China are still building projects without getting the required approval from environmental authorities. Environmental problems in China's vast rural areas are "increasingly acute", he said.

"The environmental situation in China remains tough, the surface water pollution is serious, the coastal waters across the country are slightly polluted, and in some cities air pollution is still serious," he said. Still, measures to control pollution have been strengthened as seen in lower levels of some pollutants this year, Zhang said.

A measure of sulphur dioxide, an air pollutant that causes acid rain, fell 4.9% in the first quarter of this year compared to the same period a year earlier, and chemical oxygen demand, a measure of water pollution, fell 2.9%. "What we can see is a continued momentum of decline," Zhang said.

The government has set targets to cut chemical oxygen demand and emissions of sulphur dioxide by 10% between 2006 to 2010.